Hanging On
by Velvet Shadows Xxx
Summary: Skulduggery is pushed to training his newest partner, in combat and elemental magic. When Valkyrie ends up in intensive care, her battle against bad guys turns to a battle against death, and Skulduggery realises he has been teaching her the wrong thing all along... Set after first book, this is my equivalent book two but won't be as good as Derek's! More info inside!
1. Chapter 1

_**Hi guys, this is my first series, called Skulduggery Pleasant Half Series. Each book takes place after each real Skulduggery Pleasant Book, and it is basically what I thought should happen next, technically it's an alternative (but no way as good) book two but does not have a proper plot as of yet, so it will will possibly be rubbish. This book will not necessarily lead on to PWF and will definitely not lead on to Skulduggery Pleasant Two and a Half. Couple of other things to mention, obviously if in the future you decide to read Book Seven and a Half, make sure you have read KOTW first, because it will not make sense and may contain spoilers. Yes I am planning to write nine of these but Derek managed sooo... Yeah! Speaking of Derek, all of these characters (at the moment) belong to him but I may introduce my own later on and will tell you if so. I am also planning on doing an After the Dying of the Night Novella, which takes place straight after Chapter 106 so if you have any questions about what happens at the end, please tell me (check my journal) and I will include an answer in my story. I am also going to do a collection of one shots with any two SP characters by request (again, check my journal) and I will write a short story about your two chosen characters doing what you want them to do. Also, this book is in Val's POV, unless I say otherwise. Please comment ideas or areas of improvement, I accept criticism, unless it's rude. Also, follow, like and remember to recommend to other SP fangirls/fanboys (yes, they exist too)! Sorry, this has been a bit long winded, so without further do, I present to you:**_

_**Hanging On by Velvet Shadows/Valentina Crow Xox**_

A Hell of a Lot of Owchies

"Owww!" I yelled as Tanith Low drove a knee up into my face for the (I have really lost track) time today.

"Sorry, Val, but if you really wanna be part of this world then you're gonna need to be prepared!" She smiled sympathetically.

At the sight of the smile, I straightened up and grinned, thinking she was finished. But of course I had to be wrong. She lashed out and sent a kick into my jaw, sending me sprawling backwards across the floor.

"Lesson One" she started calmly, " never let your guard down for a minute, Cain!" She spat.

She grabbed the closest towel and wiped the sweat off her face, then chucked another one at me, almost as an afterthought.

Tanith grinned, "You still have that healing rock I gave you, Val?"

I whimpered, nodding as I cradled my bruised jaw.

"Good, cause you're sure as hell gonna need it!" She smirked, leaving the room and slamming the door into the wall.

I groaned. Slowly, soft voices floated to me from under the door.

"Where's Valkyrie?" A smooth velvety voice that I identified as Mr Pleasant's.

"Just in there." I could imagine Tanith pointing, that smirk still on her face.

I vowed that I would get her back for that later...

Skulduggery's voice gradually got louder as he stopped outside the door, "And what have you taught her today?"

"That she's no match for me." She scoffed in an as a matter of fact manner.

"Okay, let me rephrase that..." Skulduggery paused, then continued, "and what have you taught her that is any use today?"

"You're saying the fact I'm better isn't important?" She gasped, mocking offence.

"Get in there and teach her something worth teaching then." He sighed, not that a living skeleton needed to breath, of course.

"Make me!"

Almost immediately, muted howls came from the hallway, and I realised that I had moved right up to the door to hear better. A millisecond too late, I realised that the howl was no longer muted and that Skulduggery had kicked Tanith, opening the door in the process, and now we were both tumbling across the floor. We both came to a stop, Tanith just happening to be on top. She straddled me, kneeling on my hands, and threw a punch that rocked my head back. My sight was already blurry from the following fight, and now I could barely see through the tears that clouded my vision. Due to this inconvenience, I completely missed the elbow that introduced stars behind my pounding headache. Just before I completely lost conscious, I was aware of Skulduggery standing by the door with his arms crossed, looking as bemused as a skeleton possibly can.

_**I hoped you enjoyed the first chapter, sorry it was so short, I promise they will get longer! Until the next chapter! (Hopefully tomorrow) VS/VC Xox**_


	2. Chapter 2

Hi everyone, sorry, I promised this chapter ages ago but I had writers block, then school and revision and friend problems and family problems and music exams and then I joined Blogland and have never been happier! However, I am back, with an actual plot, yay! I would also just like to thank everyone for all of the reviews, follows or favourites. Just want to point out that yes, Tanith does seem mean in the first chapter, but that's only because I wanted to challenge myself and develop the friendship between them. Sorry if you are not happy with this but that's how I am choosing to write the story.

Skulduggery's Hat

It was the next day, and, thankfully, I had Skulduggery to train me, not Tanith to kick my butt. I sat on the floor, waiting for Skulduggery to join me. Absent mindedly I clicked my fingers, feeling a proper flame this time. I opened my eyes and stood up, grinning. It was the first time I had managed to generate a flame. I let it go out, then generated another, grinning doubly this time.

"Looks like you're getting along quite well there," came a voice from the door.

I cursed and spun, flinging my arm out to throw the fireball at the intruder. Instead of Serpine, the man that had been plaguing my dreams for nights, a very annoyed skeleton in a suit stood against the doorframe, flames engulfing the hat on his skull.

"Oops, sorry Skul!" I giggled nervously.

I waved my hand to blow out the flames, but instead a gust of wind knocked it onto the floor, where it proceeded to burn. Next, I summoned water from the air and sent it down to where the hat lay. I tried about five times, and by the end of it, a damp hat lay in the middle of the floor, flames still dancing along it. I huffed and sat down. Skulduggery walked forwards and plucked the hat off the floor. He gave it a little blow, and it was back to normal. As normal as a hat with burns on it could be. I grinned nervously up at him and he shook his head, chuckling at the same time. He pulled me up.

"Whoops?"

He sighed, "Never mind, I have plenty... Anyway! It looks like you might need a bit of help with air and water, although you seem to have grasped the aspect of fire..."

I laughed nervously, "Yup! I suppose so..."

"Right, anyway, so the trick with air is that you need to find the fault lines, the spaces where everything connects..."

For the next couple of hours, Skulduggery showed me ways of manipulating air and water, I doing my best to copy him. After lunch, he decided to see how much I had learnt. He started by sending a wave of water my way. I did my best to evaporate said water but somehow I was still quite wet. Skulduggery then waited as I attempted to dry myself, and I was left with extremely dry hair, damp top, wet trousers and soaking shoes, a puddle lying by my feet. I grinned up at Skulduggery and he gave in, getting rid of the rest of the water. He then threw a column of air which I was too late to stop or move away from and I crashed into the wall. When I opened my eyes, groaning, Skulduggery was looking down at me.

"Ah... Are you okay?"

I smiled, "Nope!"

Skulduggery thought for a moment before saying, "Take the rest of the day off and do something relaxing, we'll practise again tomorrow."

OOOOOoooooOOOOOoooooOOOOOoooooOOOOOo

My parents were home when I got back, so I snuck around behind the house, to find the ladder I had hidden to enable me to get to my room without using the front door. I parted the leaves in the hedge (my own hiding place) to find it had gone. I shrugged, guessing my dad had found it and moved it and I stared at the window above me, knowing what I had to do. It took three tries, but finally I managed to propel myself up, a bit too far onto the roof, but I easily climbed back down to my window sill and knocked on the glass. The reflection opened it to let me in, and I climbed in. "Thanks, do you know what happened to the ladder?"

"No." my reflection replied dully.

I nodded, then motioned towards the mirror, where the reflection then stepped in. I tapped the glass, seeing it's memories of the day, then walked downstairs to see my parents after changing.

"Hey Steph!" My mum greeted me, "Dinner's almost ready!"

I grinned, it wasn't often I could sit down and eat a meal with my family, "What's cooking?"

"Chilli Beef."

My grin spread even wider, chilli was my favourite. Dad took that moment to bounce through the door.

"HONEY, I'M HOME!" He shouted.

Mum and I laughed, and I wished I could do this more, laughing and talking with my parents. I also wondered if they noticed a difference between me and the reflection, Skulduggery had told me it wouldn't have emotions as such. My grin dropped as I thought about whether it was a better daughter than I was and I ended up crying myself to sleep that night.


	3. Chapter 3

**Two updates in one night, how kind! No, this is to make up for the months I spent away from writing, enjoy!**

Two Months Later

Tanith hit the floor for the first time since I'd started training with her and I felt a warm glow spread through me. She looked up in shock and I shrugged, before holding my hand out to help her up. She took it and I grinned, this was all too easy. Tanith frowned at the grin, and in her confusion, I ducked under it, and jumped forwards and kept low to punch her stomach. She got ready to block, but the punch was a feint and I straightened up and punched her nose.

"Waitwaitwait!" She said, holding her hands up in an "I surrender" manner. "That wasn't fair with the hand, I thought you were helping me up!"

"Lesson One," I said in Tanith's voice, "Never let your guard down for a minute, Low!" I spat.

There was silence for a second, then we both burst out laughing, remembering the day she had first said that to me two months ago. I passed her a towel when our laughter subsided and we then realised the skeleton that had appeared out of no where. He looked at Tanith.

"Get yourself a shower, I just want to practise with Val for a couple of minutes."

Tanith nodded, then turned to me before she left, "Hey, do you want to grab some Froyo after you're done?"

I nodded and smiled, before turning back to Skulduggery as she left.

"It's been two months since we started training, let me see what you've learnt."

Like that first day, he sent me a wave of water, but this time, I flicked my wrist as it disappeared, then moved my wrist in a circular motion until it collected into a cloud that hung over his head. Skulduggery looked up.

"Uh oh..."

The cloud turned into mist, then water, then I let it drop, soaking him. Skulduggery dryed himself and took a step forwards, I threw out my hand, a patch of mud now lying before him on the ground. Oblivious to the mess, Skulduggery continued to walk forwards, but then slipped, and landed in the puddle from earlier. I laughed and raised my arms and he flew back, hitting the wall. He then threw a fireball which hit my arm. Of course I was protected by my jacket, but it still stung, and I splayed out my hand to soak it in water. I looked up just in time to see Skulduggery riding forwards on a wave both hands clutching fire. He crashed into me and I pushed my arm out, the air being displaced and sending us rolling over. Skulduggery landed on top and gave me a vicious uppercut. I tried pushing him off with the air but I was panicking too much, and couldn't focus. I breathed deeply, then clicked my fingers and sent flames into his face. He jumped off as he ripped the burning hat from his head. I also got up and waved my hand. The hat was back to normal.

OOOOoooooOOOOOoooooOOOOOoooooOOOOOoooooOOOOO

Tanith and I sat on the Froyo shop, eating our frozen yoghurt, while people stared at my tight black clothes and Tanith's leather. Tanith started the conversation.

"Not often someone beats me in a fair fight..."

I scoffed, "It was hardly a fair fight, I tricked you and I know you were holding back and letting me win. Skulduggery too."

"Okay, well maybe we were fighting a little easier for you but you still did well Val, I remember our first day of training and how I thrashed you." I nodded as she continued, "and you've made amazing progress, Skulduggery thinks so too!"

"Thanks..." I murmured.

Silence came next, before Tanith hesitantly said, "I know I was a bit hard at the beginning, but I was just annoyed that I was being made to train someone so inexperienced, don't think I have anything against you."

I shook my head, "No it's fine, I never really thought that anyway."

Tanith smiled and I smiled back, and I somehow knew we would become the best of friends.

OOOOOoooooOOOOOoooooOOOOOoooooOOOOOoooooOOOOO

An hour later, Tanith and I knew everything about each other, and we already seemed a lot closer than before. I was now outside my window and raised my arms. A current of wind carried me up gently to my window and I was let in and I changed. Nothing different had happened today at home, so I hugged my parents goodnight before heading upstairs.


End file.
